The Mighty Ducks: The Collection
by Revolutionary Venom
Summary: A series of one-shot stories, all told from different times of the series
1. All He Could Do

HAI.

Alright, so here's the deal; it seems that whenever I get to writing on my stories "The Lotus Thought" or "The Tip of the Blade", a strange tiny plot bunny comes into my head and strikes! And they aren't usually stories that I can make into chapters, but rather one shots. So this is going to be my collection of one-shot stories. I'll see how far I get, but currently, my goal is about 10. If I manage to get that far, I'll see how it goes

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. If I did, I'd be rich

SETTING: Aftermath of "Phil in the Blank"

* * *

"How is he?"

Wildwing looked up to see Mallory standing next to the couch that he and Nosedive had in their shared room. Currently, the older Flashblade was sitting on the couch as the younger one lay across the couch with his head on his brother's lap, covered up with a blanket.

"He seems okay," Wildwing answered, looking back down at Dive. "He's been asleep for the last few hours, but Tanya says I shouldn't worry about it."

"Considering the day he's had, I don't blame him," Mallory said, looking down at the teenager. "Hang gliding in a snowstorm, a concussion, going with Tanya to disable that thing that Dragaunus had put on the Mammoth rocket…well, that would tire anyone out."

"Yeah." Then a thought popped into Wildwing's head and he looked back up. "What happened to Phil? Is he still in that utility closet?"

The red-head smiled. "No one wanted to deal with any other offers that were being given to him, so we haven't let him out yet," she said.

The unmasked leader tried to hide the grin that was forming, but failed. "Good. Make sure he gets out though before the night is over."

"Will do."

With that, Mallory turned and left the room, the metallic doors 'hissing' as they closed behind her.

Wildwing sighed and looked back down at the sleeping teenager. Yes, today had been a rough one, but not only for Nosedive. The goalie had nearly had a heart attack when he saw his brother create that duck-shaped hole in the snow during the publicity stunt that the team was trying to pull off. Pulling him out of the snow had proved harder than it probably should've been too, for various reasons; one, the snow was at least three feet deep, perhaps more. Two, Wildwing was trying to remove Dive from the snow without his own feelings getting in the way and Tanya barking orders at everyone else about what to do. The third reason that the leader could think of was easily THE reason why today had felt like a really, really sucky day.

During the ride back to the Pond, Wildwing had allowed the others to take over the trip back as he sat on a bench seat near the rear of the Aerowing with the unconscious Nosedive, Tanya taking up her role as team medic and helping to the best of her medical knowledge. It had comforted the older Flashblade that the younger sibling only had a concussion (considering how high he had fallen from) and the fact that no case of hypothermia had been detected.

But the older sibling couldn't help but feel horrible anyway.

Wildwing _had _said that they owed Phil for "accidentally" knocking him out during hockey practice (which he later learned that their manager had been faking the headache). And Nosedive _had _been the one to warn the others about the avalanche from where he was hang gliding in the sky. But if he hadn't been on the glider, would the team have survived? Would they have been buried under the snow instead of finding out Dragaunus' plans for the Mammoth rocket? Would they have ever had figured out that their own manager was scheduling them for oddball events (even for him) by being controlled by Wraith, if not for the last location that Duke, Grin, Mallory, and himself went to after taking Dive back to the Pond?

Wildwing didn't know. There were a ton of questions that he could ask, but never get an answer for. So all he could do was wonder about it as he watched his younger brother sleep.

_/Wildwing sat back against the couch, reading a book as he was relaxing in his pajamas after a long day. The Mask of Drake DuCaine sat on the leader's bunk shelf, Wing not expecting nor hoping for anything to happen soon. As he turned another page of the book, the goalie heard the doors 'hiss' open, but didn't look up. Nosedive was probably just gonna crash-_

"_Wing?"_

_The older Flashblade looked up and saw a very exhausted teenager in front of him. Nosedive was rubbing one eye and yawning at the same time. "What are you still doing up if you're that tired Dive?" Wildwing asked, closing his book. "You look like you're about to pass out."_

"_Tanya was checking over me," Nosedive answered, coming over and sitting down on the couch. "She gave me some medicine too, since my head's still hurting."_

_Wildwing just sighed and frowned. "Get changed and go to bed. You've had a rough day and need sleep."_

"_Can I just sleep here?"_

" '_Fraid not little bro," Wing answered, smiling a little. Nosedive groaned, got up and headed towards the chest of drawers that he and his brother shared to pull out some pajamas, the leader laughing a little. "You sound like a little kid."_

"_Right now, I feel like one," Nosedive answered as he changed from his casual wear to the night garments. "I've been poked and prodded for the last hour with Tanya telling me to shut up while she looked me over." He finished changing and went back to the couch. _

_Noticing that his younger brother was being a little quieter than normal, Wildwing became concerned. "Dive, are you alright?"_

"_Can I lay on your lap? Like I used to when I was little?"_

"…_sure."_

_Nosedive laid down across the couch, using his older brother's lap as a pillow. After a few moments being spent making himself comfortable, Nosedive sighed. Wildwing grabbed the blanket that was half-draped over the couch and covered up his tired sibling. "What's bothering you Nosedive?" Wing asked after smoothing out the blanket. "You haven't asked to lay on my lap since you were twelve, and when you did, you were usually worried about something."_

_The teenager didn't answer for a few minutes. Wildwing started to stroke his younger brother's blonde hair, to comfort the adolescent drake; it also sort of made him feel better, knowing that he could at least do a little something to try and help._

"_I…I was scared today Wing," Nosedive finally answered. Wildwing continued to pet Dive's hair as the teen talked. "I was hanging upside down from that branch that just so happened to be sticking out. I couldn't tell how far away I was from the ground, or how high up the top of that cliff was. 'Course, if I had tried to climb up it, Siege and Wraith would've actually done me in and I wouldn't have found out about their plan."_

_The leader couldn't deny that. Nosedive had admitted to everyone about how he had found out about a certain Saurian's plans to hi-jack the Mammoth rocket that was scheduled to launch before plummeting. If the two idiot sidekicks of Dragaunus' had known that Nosedive would easily survive the fall, then they would've taken him out the second they saw him, hanging from the branch by only his foot._

"_And…that wasn't all. When I was out, I kept dreaming that you guys weren't listening to me when I tried to tell you all about the rocket. I kept shouting about the Mammoth, but no one was listening. Even when I woke up and told Tanya about what Siege and Wraith said, she didn't believe me until the report on TV came up."_

_Wildwing sighed, continuing to pet Nosedive's hair as he spoke. "I know you had a bad day Dive and for that I'm sorry. I can't change what happened, but I wish I could. If we'd even known that Phil was faking the headache he claimed to have from the puck that never hit him, then this probably wouldn't have happened."_

_The teenager just curled up a little more and yawned. Wildwing smiled a little. "Go to sleep now," he said softly. "You've had a tough day and deserve sleep more than anyone else here right now."_

_With that said, the adolescent drake closed his eyes. Within moments, Wildwing could hear soft, even breathing from the other, meaning that Nosedive was asleep./_

Wildwing just watched his brother sleep. He didn't want to get up and possibly disturb the teenager, but he didn't want to sleep where he was either.

After a few minutes of contemplating, the goalie just smiled and made himself comfortable against the back of the couch while trying not to wake up the younger Flashblade.

He could sleep on the couch this one time.


	2. Solitary Hour

This one is a tad different. I wanted to do another Grin oriented story, but I had to do alot of research once again _ So...uh, yeah! Enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. If I did, I'd be rich

SETTING: Grin's room. No specific point in time

* * *

Grin sat on the floor in the back of his room, in front of a small table and a shelf built in the wall that held several items for meditation.

What was interesting wasn't what these items were, but rather what they represented. When his master had been teaching him all those years ago, Grin wasn't sure what or really why the items Tai Quack Do had were useful.

But now he did.

In front of him were simple things. Five small candles and a small incense holder sat on the small table with a matchbox on the far right side while the shelf held six meditation crystals in special holders. A box of White Cloud incense sat on the table as well.

Grin picked up the matchbox, taking one of the matches out and striking it. As he lit the five candles, he reflected on what each of their meanings were with their different colors.

From left to right, the candles were deep red, a soft blue, silver, orange, and yellow. To the normal eye, these would seem strange to have such drastically different colored candles anywhere, but to Grin, these represented each member of the team (excluding himself since he was the one meditating).

Mallory was grounded, realistic, active, had strong will-power, and was survival-oriented, to which Grin believed most of these traits came from a military-like life; therefore, she had a deep red aura.

Duke was peaceful, had a certain amount of clarity, had good communication, was honest, and was intuitive, which is why his candle matched the soft blue aura he emitted.

Wildwing was always ready to hear about new ideas (unless they were from Phil), also was intuitive (which helped greatly since he was the leader), and a nurturing older brother, which was why he had the silver colored candle.

Nosedive had lots of energy and stamina, was creative whether it was in battle or everyday life, productive (depending on who you asked, since his hobbies were somewhat strange), adventurous, courageous (even if others called it stupidity instead), and had an outgoing social nature that rivaled even many Earth teenagers. Thus, his candle was orange.

Tanya was always having inspirations for new inventions, had a rather high intelligence, was creative in her inventing, playful when she wanted to be, optimistic, and somewhat easy-going, thus why her candle color was yellow.

He had once been asked why there were only five candles instead of six or seven. Grin had answered that he didn't need one to represent himself since he was the one doing the meditation, and he couldn't really count Canard because even when they were on the same team in the beginning (and before he sacrificed himself), Grin couldn't pick up much of an aura because it was so muted.

When asked about the crystals, the larger drake said it helped him focus; that's what the crystals were meant to do after all.

But why did he have six there instead of five? It helped focus his energy for the team, which is why he had one for everyone including himself.

The only item of all these that didn't have a heavy purpose or meaning was the incense. It was called "White Cloud" and it was meant to help bring solitude and peace to the extremely busy life that an inter-dimensional drake could try and handle. In Grin's opinion, it worked well, but he didn't always need it.

With the candles lit, the crystals in their holders gleaming, Grin began to meditate.


	3. He Tried to Protect You

I wanted to focus on one story with Mallory, but it didn't turn out quite the way I expected. Warning ya now, it's a little random.

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. If I did, I'd be rich

SETTING: The Pond, sometime after my story "A Brother's Job." (You don't have to read it, there's an explanation in this story that pretty much sums it up).

* * *

…_She really didn't want to leave; there was some nagging feeling in her gut telling her not to go, but she climbed onto the bed her brother was occupying and hugged him anyway. "Night Wesley."_

"_Good night Squirt."…_

…"_Hey Mallory?"_

"_What's up?"_

"_Will you forget me when you're older?"_

"_No way! Why would I?"_

"_Just wondering."… _

…"_I know this is a strange time to give you a gift, but this was requested to be given to you after his funeral," General McMallard said. _

_Mallory eyed the small package and took it from her father. She opened the lid and her eyes went wide. Inside was her brother's dog tags, along with another pair. Mallory picked up the second pair and read what was engraved;_

_McMallard,_

_Mallory_

_050988_

_B-_

"_From Wesley to Mallory; good luck with the P.S.F."…_

"Hey chica! Wake up!"

Mallory groaned and opened her eyes when she heard _that _voice.

_Nosedive…_

She sat up from her laying down position on the couch and looked to see Nosedive standing next to the couch, the chess board under his right arm, his left one still in its sling. "Wanna play chess?" the teen asked. "Everyone else is busy or out."

The red-head was about to refuse, but realized she had nothing else to do (which was why she had been napping in the first place). "Alright Nosedive, I'll play," she answered lamely. "As long as I get to be white."

Mallory watched as the still-injured teen put the chess board on the coffee table, then carefully settled himself down on the floor. She watched him as he set up the pieces, one at a time. _Geez, this is gonna take forever since he's only got one hand to work with,_ Mallory thought.

"Think you could be any slower?" she asked, sitting on the floor across from the adolescent.

Nosedive just looked at her, an annoyed expression on his face. "Well, excuse me for having a broken arm," he said, going back to setting the pieces up. "I don't like it either, but gotta deal with it. Be happy that _you're_ not the one with broken limbs here."

Pissed for some reason, Mallory stood up and began to walk out. "You're such a child!" she exclaimed.

Nosedive was feeling a mixture of anger and confusion at this. "Why am _I_ the one here acting like one?" he asked as he stood from the floor. "All I said was be happy that you're not hurt. _You're _the one that's storming out like you're all high and mighty!"

Mallory stopped in her tracks, turning around to face the teen. "You never think about what you're saying, you just spout out crap!" she yelled, clearly angry. "You also never think about your actions or the consequences! You just think everything will work out, no matter what you do! That Wildwing is gonna dig you outta trouble once you jump into it! Nothing bad can happ-!"

She immediately stopped when her eyes locked on with Nosedive's. The red-head's irrational anger dissipated when she saw the hurt in those eyes of his.

She looked at his arm in that sling, as well as his right leg that was encased in a walking cast. Then she remembered _why _he had those two broken limbs, as well as other injuries that were close to the end of the healing process:

About a month ago, during a raid by Siege, Chameleon, and Wraith down in the warehouse district, Siege had attempted to take out Wildwing. If Nosedive had not jumped in front of the older Flashblade, essentially sacrificing himself for his brother and leader, then the goalie would have most likely died; though for awhile, the others weren't sure the teenager was going to live through the experience.

Mallory sighed and closed her eyes. She remembered how worried she had been during the first few days. How could she have a right to say what she just shouted?

Opening her eyes, she looked back up to the teenager. "Nosedive…"

"Forget it," the other said, hurt clearly in his voice. He turned around and left the room, leaving the half-set up chess board where it was.

_**RVRVRVRVRVRVRV**_

Mallory stood outside the door that opened up for Wildwing and Nosedive's room. It had been over an hour since she had yelled at the teenager for no reason that she could see now. She thought of many ways to apologize, but none of the ways she worded them sounded right in her head.

But she'd attempt it anyway.

So she pushed a button on the keypad next to the door, the metallic object 'whooshing' open. Mallory walked in to see Nosedive on the couch, reading comics.

Said teen looked at her for a moment, giving her the angry eye as he did so, then went back to his comic. "Here to yell at me some more?" he asked.

"No," the red-head simply answered. "What I said was unjustified. For a moment, I had forgotten why you got hurt in the first place." Her hand went to the dog tags around her neck that she usually kept hidden under whatever she was wearing. "I sometimes forget what it's like to have someone you'd sacrifice anything for."

_This _caught the teenager's attention. "What does that mean?" he asked, putting aside his comic. Mallory just sighed and sat next to Dive on the couch. "Mallory?"

"About fifteen years or so ago, my older brother died of TB," she said. "He came in contact with it in the line of duty when I was seven, but it came back when I was eight or so and he suffered for two years afterward. He…he didn't even tell me anything was wrong with me until six months before he died."

"He wanted to protect you."

Mallory scoffed. "In a way, he tried," she admitted, still fiddling with the dog tags. "But in the end, I found out."

The teenager next to her noticed the tags. "Are those dog tags?" he asked. Then he looked a little closer. "But…aren't you only supposed to have one set?"

Mallory took the necklace off and handed them to Nosedive. "One set of tags are the ones that belonged to my brother," she said as the teenager inspected them. "The other set are a custom made pair that he had made for me. They were given to me after his funeral."

Nosedive looked at her, then back at the dog tags. After a minute of looking them over, he smiled a little. "I guess we finally found something in common then."

"What's that?"

"We're both the younger siblings."

The red-head simply smiled. "Yeah, I guess we are."

* * *

I just realized that I read somewhere that Mallory had been in fact a younger sibling. Only problem is that I can't find the source I read it from -_- All I remember is that she did in fact have an older brother that's not mentioned in the series and she was trying to live up to what he was (or something like that). And that, apparently, was why she joined the Puckworld Special Forces


	4. Isn't It Ironic?

HAI.

Alright, since I'm _attempting_ to stay away from too many Nosedive related stories, here's a Tanya/Duke bonding story. No romance, sorry. I just don't see any of the characters ending up together romantically (or rather, I've only read one or two good stories like that. One was a Dive/Mal while the other was a...Wing/Duke? I think. I just remember that it was pretty good)

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS or Alanis Morissette's "Ironic". If I did, I'd be rich.

SETTING: Between "The First Face-Off Part 2" and "A Traitor Among Us".

* * *

"Hey Tanya! What'cha doin'?"

The techie looked up from her work to see Duke standing just behind her. "Hi Duke," she greeted. "Just - y'know - fixing a few things. Not much else to do."

"Need any help?"

Tanya thought for a moment. "Well, I was gonna restock some of the puck launchers," she said, turning her revolving chair to where she could face the drake. "Would you wanna do that for me?

The ex-thief shrugged. "Sure why not?" he asked. "Got nothin' else to do anyway."

Tanya watched as the older drake headed to the second workbench in her lab and took a seat. _Does he even know how to reload a puck launcher?_ she thought, watching as Duke picked up one of the guns. _I've only seen him use that saber of his. Does he even carry a launcher? Wait, WHERE would he carry it?_

She hadn't noticed that Duke was humming as he was reloading a puck launcher. Apparently, she was so consumed by these thoughts that she had accidentally missed whatever he had just said. "What?"

"I asked if I could turn da radio on," Duke repeated, indicating the small stereo that Tanya kept on a nearby shelf. "It's too quiet in he'ah."

"Oh," Tanya simply said. "Yeah, sure I guess."

The older drake just looked at her oddly, then turned on the radio, looking for a decent station to listen to. "Still gettin' used to being stuck he'ah?"

"Not really," Tanya said. "I mean, as long as Dragaunus has his Inter-Dimensional Gateway and he's stuck here on this planet with us, then there's at least some hope of going home, right?"

Duke finally stopped at a station that had some decent music playing. "Yeah, I guess that's about right," the older one admitted. He listened to the radio and sighed. "I'm not sure if this song is entirely accurate, but it sounds like us right now."

Tanya listened to some of the lyrics of what was playing and thought about it as they were played on the stereo.

**_Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you, _**

**_When you think everything's okay and everything's going right,_**

**_And life has a funny way of helping you out, _**

**_When you think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up in your face_**

_That's a strange way of putting it,_ Tanya thought. But she continued to listen to the lyrics and the chorus went it came up.

**_And isn't it ironic... don't you think? _**

**_A little too ironic... and yeah I really do think... _**

**_It's like rain on your wedding day, _**

**_It's a free ride when you've already paid, _**

**_It's the good advice that you just didn't take, _**

**_Who would've thought ... it figures..._**

Tanya sat back in her chair as she and Duke listened to the end of the song. "Y'know, perhaps in a strange, cosmic sorta way, our situation is ironic," the techie finally commented.

"Yeah?" Duke asked, looking at her sideways. "What makes ya say that?"

"Well, one of the definitions of the word is - uh - 'an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected'," Tanya explained. "None of us even knew that we'd - y'know - end up in another dimension, lose Canard, or anything. We thought we were going in just to beat Dragaunus and free Puckworld."

Duke thought for a second. "Didn't think about it that way," he said after a moment. "And I'm bettin' that not even Wildwing saw himself becomin' captain of the team."

"So…is this ironic?"

"…let's ask at the next team meetin'."

* * *

Why did I choose "Ironic"? Well, their situation probably was to them in a way. And this was apparently one of the top 100 songs back in 1996, when this series started. So I figured it was appropriate


	5. So Bored, I Can't Believe It

I know I said that I wanted to try and stay away from Nosedive related stories (since I don't want to favor one character over another), but this chapter...I can seriously see the kid feeling this way. I feel this way and I'm in college T-T Anyway, this and one future chapter are the only ones I guarentee will have everyone's favorite teen drake in it.

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. If I did, I'd be rich

SETTING: Rec Room, somewhere in the middle of the series (I honestly couldn't decide a point in time)

* * *

Nosedive was bored.

He sat in the Rec Room, the TV showing some nonsensical crap that was considered advertising as he sat upside down on the couch. When the others had come in much earlier and saw this, they had thought to question Dive's reasons for sitting the way he was, but then just ignored it and let him be.

It was sad for only one reason that Nosedive could think of that he was this bored and wasn't doing anything else: it was because he was wishing for something that couldn't possibly be done.

First off, to explain this would be in two parts.

The first was because all of the different team members were doing their own things/assignments. Wildwing was up on monitor duty, a task that while everyone hated, had to be done and was not to be interrupted unless:

1) There was a dire emergency

2) Meals were ready

Or 3) Time to switch off with another member of the team.

So no bothering his older brother.

Duke was out, saying that because of a new exhibit that had come to town, he wanted to go see it…and Phil kinda forced him into going to it as an opening day publicity stunt, but it was something Duke was gonna do anyway (or so he said), so it didn't really bother the older drake.

Mallory was out shopping down at the mall, looking for a new dress and whatever else she felt she needed for some formal thing that was coming up for all the members of the NHL. She had dragged Tanya along with her, who really hadn't wanted to go but ended up doing so anyway when Wildwing had pointed out that she didn't own one dress, formal or otherwise.

Grin had gone on what he had called a 'spiritual quest', which probably meant that he was either down at the park meditating or he was at that new New Age store that sold stuff that he could use for meditation.

Nosedive sighed. Puck, even Thrash and Mookie were gone for the week! The boss of the Captain Comics store had asked the duo to head out to San Francisco for a three day convention to look at products that could possibly be sold at the store. And Dive did _not_ like their replacements for the time they were gone. The two who were replacing Thrash and Mookie were…completely opposite, and the teenager was leaving it at that.

Now the second reason for why the task could not be done.

They weren't on their home world anymore.

Nosedive missed Puckworld more than anything, though Earth wasn't all that bad. But there were certain things he couldn't do, or that just weren't the same. Before the Invasion started, if he was bored, he'd go out into the backyard and slap a few shots with Wing or his dad, occasionally doing so by himself. And yes, one could argue that Nosedive could still go up to the rink above their HQ and slap some shots, but…it wouldn't be the same. At all. He had even done so once before just after they arrived on Earth and just hadn't found the same enjoyment in the activity.

Now, one might ask, what was it that the teenager wanted to do?

He sighed and (he couldn't believe he was even thinking about it) wished he could go back to high school.

HIGH SCHOOL. That's right, you heard me.

The teenager sighed. He had barely been a sophomore when the Invasion started and it had been almost two years before he and his brother were found by Canard. Though he half-wished to go to a Earth high school, Phil had said that he didn't need to.

Why?

When the ducks arrived on Earth and became apart of the NHL, their manager had realized that the youngest was only 17, thus probably violating some kind of rule about how old someone had to be so they could participate in hockey. So in order to figure out Nosedive's intelligence level (and he remembered being insulted by that, but not how it had been phrased at the time) one of the heads of the NHL had asked that the teenager take a high school equivalency test. To almost everyone's surprise, Dive passed with flying colors and was given the equivalent to a high school diploma.

When asked how the heck he had passed, he merely shrugged and said, "It wasn't that hard." And Wildwing just stayed silent and smiled when the others asked him what he thought.

The teenager sighed again, shifting his position to where he was laying across the couch. The youngest drake remembered how excited he had been when he found out that he didn't need to attend high school and officially became the youngest player thus far in the history of the NHL. But now...

It wasn't really that he missed going to school, but that he missed going to one on Puckworld. He hadn't had many friends, but Wildwing had been in his senior year when Dive was a freshmen, so it wasn't bad at all.

Maybe that was what Dive missed.

But he would never know now.

* * *

I do have one thing about the series to acknowledge here; in the beginning of the series when Phil is telling the story of how Puckworld was taken over and what not, he says something along the lines of "months had gone by" and I think even Nosedive says so too. But it never says _how many months _go by after the Invasion started. Considering it was long enough for Wildwing and Nosedive to hear about a Resistance and Wing was just beginning to doubt their existence by the time they got picked up, perhaps a year or even longer went by.

But that's just me.

As for the rest, I tried to look up the rules of the NHL, but didn't see anything about age or how it was run. So I can only guess =/


	6. Exchanging of Scars

Alright, short story #6!

I'm actually surprised I've gotten this far. But this story is different in the way that I've been trying to put it into short story form for some time, but had problems with the words. But it seems like it came out alright =3 Anyway, another bonding story. This time it's our youngest and oldest members of the Ducks, Nosedive and Duke. You'll see why this'll make an interesting chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. If I did, I'd be rich.

SETTING: Rec Room, some time after "A Brother's Job" (again, you don't have to read this previous story.)

* * *

Nosedive plopped himself down on the couch, laying his head against the back. He was _tired_ and it was all due to physical therapy. Today, Tanya had him try to lift a few very light weights with his left arm, which she insisted be kept in the sling when they weren't trying to work with it. Therapy for other broken parts of him were dealt in other ways, such as his leg.

But he didn't want to think about _that _again.

So he sat there, his eyes closed, feeling as exhausted as one could be when he heard the metallic doors open, footsteps soon following.

"What's tha' matt'ah kid?"

Nosedive opened his eyes to see Duke looking down at him, looking somewhat concerned. "Therapy," the teen merely answered, closing his eyes again. "Tanya's a slave driver."

The ex-thief grinned. "I know tha' feelin'," he said, walking over to one of the recliners and sitting back. "Physical therapy sucks."

_That _got the teen drake's attention. He opened one eye and looked at Duke. "How would you know?" Nosedive asked. "How many bones have you broken?"

"Hmph, too many," Duke answered. "When I was sixteen, durin' a trainin' session my partn'ah and I apparently timed our moves wrong and I ended up with a broken arm and dislocated should'ah. That was my first broken bone."

Dive managed to pick his head up off the back of the couch and look at the older drake, both eyes open and full of curiosity. "Oh yeah? What else?"

"Ah no, I ain't doin' this," the older one said. "I don't think ya wanna he'ah about my scars-"

"Aw c'mon Duke! Let's compare, I'm bored!" Nosedive whined. He moved on the couch so he was closer to the recliner that Duke occupied. "I'll even go first!"

The ex-bandit stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "Alright kid, if you're _that _bored, sure. But 'cha gotta go first since I just gave ya a freebie."

"Okay!" Nosedive thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "When I was seven, I wanted to go outside and play with Wildwing 'cuz I'd been in the house for almost a week while I had duck-pox. I was just getting over it when I begged my parents and they said it was alright as long as Wing was with me and if I was feeling okay."

"Was that a sma'ht move on their part?" Duke asked.

"My mom was a doctor, so she set the rules to anything medical," Nosedive explained. "Anyway, I guess I was a…bit too excited-"

Duke chuckled at the phrasing.

"-and when I went running with my skates, I tripped and fell. One of my skates hit me in the forehead, and this scar-" Nosedive pointed to a faint line that stuck out from his hairline. "-came from that. Actually, my hair covers up most of the scar."

"Somehow, I can see that," Duke said, imagining a seven year old Nosedive doing what he said he had.

"Alright, your turn Duke!"

The older drake thought for a minute. "Well, I've got a deep scar from my left knee to my upp'ah thigh," he admitted. "A heist went bad and that's all I'm sayin'."

"How bad was the damage that you've still got a scar?"

Duke sighed. "My leg was torn open by a blade," he explained. "When I woke up in tha' Brotherhood's Infirmary, they said that _bone _had been showin' before surgery."

Nosedive gulped. "_Bone_?"

"Yeah," Duke answered darkly. "I couldn't walk without crutches for at least two months when I was finally released from the Infirmary…the therapy for that wasn't pretty eith'ah."

"…how old were you?" Nosedive asked.

"…your age actually," Duke finally answered. "It was a 'pre-greatest Puckworld jewel thief' moment."

Nosedive just thought about that for a few minutes. Finally, Duke said, "It's in the past kid, it's an old scar. Now, what else ya got for me to he'ah 'bout?"

The teen thought for a moment. "Well, this is the second time I've broken my left arm," he said, indicating the slinged limb. "The first was during a hockey game with Wildwing, Canard, and a bunch of other guys when I was ten. I was on the same team as Wing and Canard and I was going for the winning goal when a bunch of guys from the other team tackled me and one fell on my arm." He laughed for a second. "When Wing came over, he punched the guy out, though he doesn't really remember that."

Duke's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

Perhaps the exchanging of injuries wouldn't be as boring as Duke originally thought.


	7. If He Were to Die?

Okay, this one is a little...different. It was inspired by one of the latest country hits "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry. I've been hearing it too much (in my opinion, but I still like it) and this little story came from it. And while I did promise to try and keep Nosedive out of any future short stories, he only has a minor role in this. So...yeah.

The only real A/N I have for this chapter is that while the song wasn't released until more recently and the series origin was in 1996, why can't another universe get something first? So I played the fanfiction card with that song ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS, the one Buddha quote, or "If I Die Young" lyrics. If I did, I'd be rich.

SETTING: Sometime between "Jurassic Puck" and "The Return of Dr. Droid"

* * *

At one in the morning, Wildwing couldn't sleep.

It wasn't the normal sort of insomnia that sometimes bothered him - no, _that _was usually caused by unusual amounts of stress - and this was something completely different.

He was worried about past events, something that he hadn't really thought about since coming to Earth. Or, to be more accurate, he was worried about the consequences that might've occurred or could happen in the future.

And while Wing knew it was stupid to think about such things, he couldn't help it. He'd been sitting at the kitchen table for the last hour, trying to free his thoughts, but just couldn't. Maybe if he talked to someone that would help.

_But who could I talk to at this point in the night?_ the goalie asked himself. He didn't want to bother either Tanya or Mallory, since the techie had crashed about three hours ago after many nights of working on a new invention and the other would probably bash his head in, leader or not.

He picked his brain for the answer. _Duke? Nah, he's asleep for once, so it'd probably be better not to wake him up. Grin? Hmm…maybe…_

With that decision made, he got up from his seat at the kitchen table and headed off towards the Zen-oriented drake's room…

**__**

RVRVRVRVRVRVRV

Grin opened his eyes, his nightly meditation interrupted when he heard a gentle knocking on the metal door that led to his room. He stood from his seat in front of what he called 'his meditation shrine' and went towards the door. Upon hitting the button that opened the metallic entrance, the larger drake was surprised to see his leader standing there in his pajamas.

"Sorry Grin, did I wake you?" Wildwing asked.

He shook his head. "I was just meditating," Grin said. Then he noticed the look on his leader's face, picking up on Wing's feelings; a sense of uncertainty and…fear?

"Is something troubling you Wildwing?"

The leader sighed. "Kinda," he answered. "I-I wanted to know if maybe you can help me out."

Grin moved aside to allow his captain to enter his room. "Of course," he said. As Wildwing picked up on the invitation to go in, Grin closed the door and asked, "What seems to be bothering you?"

Said goalie sat on the couch that occupied the far left of Grin's room and sighed. "A lot of things as of late," Wing answered as the much larger drake sat on the floor close to the couch, facing his leader. "I dunno if what's on my mind is really considered regret, but I've been worrying about a lot of stuff I've done in the past and what consequences they might have now in the future."

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment," Grin said. Then he shrugged. "But this is what many forget." He then looked up at his captain, square in the eye. "Now what _exactly_ are you concerned about?"

The leader once again sighed. "It's…Nosedive actually," he confessed. "I'm worried whether or not bringing him here was actually a bad choice. I mean…since we've come to Earth, he's gotten hurt so many times while fighting Dragaunus. He's even had appendicitis almost two months ago…I guess, when it comes down to it, I'm worried if whether or not I made the right choice or not of bringing him along."

Grin looked at him for a moment. "You regret then?" he asked. "Bringing a member of your family with you, even if we did end up in a place we never knew before?"

"No, nothing like that!" Wildwing exclaimed. "It's just…while I know what could've happened to him back on Puckworld if I left him behind, I just wonder if it was smart to take him with me when Canard wanted me to join the Resistance. I mean, I originally said I wasn't going without Dive, but…seeing what's happened to him since we arrived, I can't help but wonder…for the sake of his safety."

The larger drake thought this over for a minute. "You were in the camps, yes?"

"Yeah. Dive was even in the mines for a little while, before we were reunited two months after the Invasion started."

"I can see why you would imagine his fate if you _had _left him," Grin answered after a few moments of silence. "Another thing to consider is if he wasn't with us now, would someone have been able to help him during his hour of need almost two months ago?"

Wildwing hadn't thought about that. _Would _someone have helped his brother out when he had appendicitis? Or would he have died, like he almost did those six weeks ago because he hadn't confessed to anyone about feeling bad in the first place? Would Nosedive have even contracted it in the first place?

Well, that last one couldn't really be answered, since (according to Tanya) the disease was just something that could occur anytime, even if the person (or duck in this case) was in the picture state of health.

Then, a memory came to his mind that hadn't occupied any space for some time;

_/"Let me see your back."_

"_Wing, it's really okay, it's just a little-"_

"_Nosedive."_

_"…alright, but you're not gonna like it." He slowly removed his ratty, torn vest and t-shirt, hissing a little as he did so. Then he turned around for Wildwing to see._

_Multiple scabbed over wounds from the lash of a whip decorated the younger Flashblade's back. _

"_Dive, what happened?" _

_Nosedive sighed. "Some kids a couple of years younger than me thought it would be…defiant…to start throwing rocks at some of the drones that were guarding us one day. When they realized that doing that would get their butts fried, I took the blame. So the guards did this to me."_

"…_how long ago?"_

_"Maybe a week or so ago. My days are starting to kinda blend together."/_

Wing sighed and hid half his face in the palm of his hand. "I…I just don't want him to get hurt anymore. I don't want him to die because of me. More accurately, I don't want him to die because of my choice for him."

Grin frowned and crossed his arms. "Even if you hadn't insisted, I'm sure Nosedive would've come of his own accord," he said. "He knew what he was getting into."

When Wildwing didn't answer to this, Grin's mind came up with a rather strange thought.

"I remember from when I was a duckling, sometime after I became Tai Quack Do's apprentice, a song that made me think about several things of life," Grin said.

Wildwing raised his head, a curious look on his face. "What was it?"

"It was called 'If I Die Young'," Grin answered. "I do not remember much of the song itself, but I remember things here and there."

The goalie listened as Grin recited what he could remember;

"**_If I die young, bury me in satin,_**

**_Lay me down on a bed of roses,_**

**_Sink me in the river at dawn,_**

**_Send me away with the words of a love song, _**

**_The sharp knife of a short life, well I've had just enough time_**."

Wildwing thought about the words after Grin recited them. "But…what does it mean?" he asked.

"This part of the song I believe means that, if the one in question dies unexpectedly - or as some say 'before their time' - that they would like to go out in a special way," Grin said. " 'Bury me in satin' could be that they want to look as stunning as they did in life. 'Lay me down on a bed of roses' is just another way of asking how to be buried, such as those who are cremated or put in mausoleums. 'Sink me in the river at dawn' sounds like one would want to become one with nature and 'send me away with the words of a love song' is saying 'don't be sad, but rather love the fact that I could help you in a way such as I did'."

The goalie just gave him a strange look. "Well, that's what I believe it to mean," Grin said.

"But…how does that help people reassure themselves of their thoughts?" Wildwing asked.

"It's something I believe you'll have to find on your own," Grin answered, standing. "Not every saying has a distinct meaning for everyone."

Wildwing sighed and stood from his seat as well. "Thanks Grin," he said. "Maybe it will help me."

With that said, the leader left the room, metallic doors 'hissing' open and shut.

**__**

RVRVRVRVRVRVRV

Now it was almost three A.M., the goalie lying in his bunk and still unable to sleep; he had Grin's words floating around in his head.

Sighing, he sat up, kicking the blankets off, and getting out of bed. He still didn't have an answer to his earlier question, though he had the household guru's answer in his as he turned around, he caught a glimpse of Nosedive's sleeping form in the top bunk. Facing the bunk, Wildwing just watched as his younger brother slept and smiled a little.

_Maybe Grin was right. Nosedive and I have been in each other's lives since the day he was hatched - not including the two months in separate camps after the Invasion started. But we did everything we could just to stay together after we were reunited. If we had separated again when Canard came, I know for a fact that I'd be worried every second of everyday that we weren't back home about Nosedive and whether he was safe or not. I mean, I know we both worry about our parents since we haven't seen them since that morning…_

_Nosedive would've followed me anyway, that's one thing Grin had right. And if he had died on this mission or if before we defeat Dragaunus, I know he'll not have regretted it, whatever the reason may be._

The goalie grinned, reaching out and touching the side of his brother's face. Nosedive smiled and sighed happily when he felt that touch, despite being asleep.

Wildwing couldn't help but laugh a little. "Sleep tight you little dork."


	8. Tanya Discovers Fun

_This is SO boring! Why the heck did I let Mallory drag me out to the mall anyway, I've got stuff to do!_

"C'mon Tanya! We've still got another few places to go!"

The techie rolled her eyes and followed the ever-energetic-for-clothes Mallory. According to Wildwing, there was one of those formal, fancy parties that the team had to attend; apparently, some art museum or something like that was having a grand opening, and since it didn't sound too crazy (compared to Phil's _usual _publicity stunts), Wildwing agreed to it.

So that meant clothes shopping, something that Tanya hated, even back on Puckworld. Technically, she did have one fancy dress from one of the first things they had ever attended, but it wasn't quite right nor fancy enough for this event. Thus Wildwing suggested that since Mallory was going shopping for a new dress, Tanya was to go with her to get new formal garments.

The two walked around, Tanya letting her mind wander as Mallory led the way into different department stores or formal shops.

_I am SO going to kill Wilding for this...guess I know how Nosedive feels when he has to do something he considers 'boring',_ Tanya thought. There were a lot of things that she enjoyed, could tolerate, or at least could _try _to tolerate.

But shopping was _not _one of those things. Unless it involved electronic devices or something that interested her-

That's when something managed to catch her eye. Tanya looked to her left and saw the arcade that was set up in the mall, but that wasn't what had caught her attention.

What had called to her was some sort of music emitting from a platform near the front of the arcade. She watched as someone was on it, looking like they were dancing. Fast, techno-like music was emitting from two loudspeakers that were attached to the main machine, and bright lights were flashing on and off in an attempt to meet the speed of the music.

Now, usually Tanya was never interested by the video games that Nosedive brought to the Pond and attempted to play on Drake One (after he tried 'Space Invaders' she forbade him from ever touching that computer again.) But something about this seemed to pull her into the direction of the arcade, as she found her feet walking without a command. She soon realized that the platform was coming closer…no wait, she was getting closer to it.

_Why am I being pulled in by a video game?_ she thought, stopping next to the platform.

* * *

_Where the heck did she go? _Mallory pondered, doing some backtracking. Somewhere along the way to another department store, she had lost Tanya. The red head had already checked three electronic stores that had been on the way to where she had been trying to lead Tanya, but hadn't found her yet.

_**My heart skips a beat  
**__**When you walk in the room,  
**__**I go boom boom boom, You go zoom zoom zoom **_

Mallory heard the music, but wasn't entirely sure where it was coming from. Somewhere ahead of her, she could tell that much. So she walked on. As she continued her journey, the music got louder and she was able to tell that it was what the humans called 'techno music'.

_**You're my playboy, playtoy,  
**__**Love and my friend,  
**__**I wanna be with you until the end!**_

That's when she found it; the arcade. A favorite place of Nosedive's whenever he had to go to the mall, whether it was for new clothes or otherwise. Mallory knew that he would drag some of the others in there too, but she personally had never gone in, not liking most of the video games on Earth.

But the small crowd that caught her eye was drawing her closer to the video arcade. And it apparently had something to do with the music and the person dancing on the-

_TANYA_?

_**I give my heart and my soul to you,  
**__**To make you see its true.  
**__**I'm so confused, baby, can't you see?  
**__**Please come rescue me!**_

Mallory continued to watch as her techno-geek friend moved on the platform, like she did it everyday. _Weird,_ Mallory thought._ Tanya's hand-eye coordination outside of hockey sucks. How is it that she's able to dance like that? …if one even calls that dancing…_

_**Sweet little bumble bee, I know what you want from me,  
Dup-i-dup-i-do la da, Dup-i-dup-i-do la da,  
Sweet little bumble bee, more than just a fantasy,  
Dup-i-dup-i-do la da, Dup-i-dup-i-do la da!**_

The red head watched in amazement as the one on the platform danced. _Well…at least she's oddly found something else she enjoys,_ Mallory thought. She had to admit, Tanya did look pretty happy up there, not paying attention to the crowd but to the screen in front of her.

Soon the song ended and Tanya got off, surprised to see Mallory waiting for her. "How'd you find me?" the blonde asked. The other shrugged. "Call it an accident," she said. "By the way, I didn't know you could dance like that."

"I didn't either really."

"Still doesn't get you out of shopping though."

Tanya just stuck her tongue out at Mallory.

* * *

BACK

Oddly enough, I had over half this drabble written shortly after my last update, but couldn't think of a way to end it. So it ended up just sitting around forever until...well, now. This is probably the only one in the collection thus far that has no specific set time


	9. BETRAYAL!

"Betrayal!"

Wildwing stopped as he walked by his and Nosedive's room. _Betrayal? What in the name of hockey is he yelling about?_

"Stupid game betrayed me!" From inside the room, Wildwing could hear something that sounded like a 'thump' noise, like Nosedive either hitting his head against something or hitting the desk. Hitting a key on the keypad next to the door, Wildwing let the doors open and he walked in.

What he saw only half-surprised him.

Nosedive had recently gotten a new computer game in a series that Thrash and Mookie recommended when he walked into their store once to pick up some comics. He had played most of the games that he had gotten, and was on the newest one that he had bought the last time he went to the comic shop. So currently, the teenager was at the desktop computer that Tanya finally got for him (she had gotten sick of finding open games of Alien Invaders and the like on Drake One), surrounded by empty junk food containers, looking angrily at the screen.

Wildwing could barely resist the urge to laugh. _Should I even bother…?_

So he did.

"What's going on Dive?"

The teenager growled. "This game suuuuucks!" Nosedive looked up at the team leader, a disgusted look on his face. "The guys who did this…this…whatever you wanna call it, completely screwed up!"

Wildwing was still confused. "Why, what's wrong? Are there glitches in the system?"

"Yes and no," Nosedive answered, facing the computer screen again. "The computer is fine, it's all the game. A bunch of stuff isn't finished and there are tons of game glitches like falling through the floor of a dungeon and stuff like that. Then there's the plot. OH DRAKE, the plot!"

Wildwing snickered. "That bad?"

"YES!" Nosedive exclaimed. "Even the stupid villain is annoying! All he does most of the game has him saying the same few lines and I have to keep hearing it!"

_Sounds like most of our days listening to Nosedive when it comes to games and anything of anyone his age,_ Wildwing thought. "Anything else?"

"I can't tell anything apart and none of the enemies change!"

"…seriously?"

"All I ever run into are ghosts, zombies, and a couple of other evil guys. More than half the world is just…gray…and lastly, the STUPID EXPLODING TREASURE CHESTS!"

Wildwing studied Nosedive. "…can I try?"

**A Few Hours Later…**

"PUCK!"

"You just got onto that platform Wing! Try again!"

"I am! That stupid thing made me explode for something weird!"

* * *

For anyone who recognizes any of this, a cookie for you!

If not, then I'll share anyway; I got the idea from the Spoony Experiment after watching the Ultima reviews that Spoony has put up. Since _Ultima 8: Pagan_ came out in 1994, it seemed to fit around the time of when the Ducks got to Earth in 1996 (since that's when the show takes place anyway)

So a short drabble that goes here


End file.
